"You didn't do it?" Liu Xie looked at Shi A in front of him with some surprise and said. In order to be able to clean up Cheriji with confidence, Liu Xie sent Shi A and others to find Yuan Shao's trouble. Yuan Shao is the overlord of Hebei, as long as he dies, Hebei will be chaotic, and Cao Cao will definitely have no time to find trouble for himself in order to rob Hebei.

When the news of Yuan Shao's death reached Chang'an, Liu Xie thought that Shi A and others had succeeded, and at this time it was inappropriate to announce that Yuan Shao's death was related to the imperial court, but the reward should still be there. It's just that what Liu Xie didn't expect was that Shi A actually told himself that Yuan Shao's death had nothing to do with them.

"Do you know who did it?" Liu Xie asked curiously.

"It's not clear for the time being, but it seems that Yuan Shao didn't die of illness, but was killed by someone." Shi Ah shook his head and replied.

"It's not our hands, it's not the death of the disease, that is, Yuan Shao was killed by someone else. Not...... Shi A, what is the situation in Hebei today? ”

"One word is chaos. Although Yuan Shang succeeded Yuan Shao's position, Yuan Tan and Yuan Xi all found excuses not to come to Yecheng to mourn, and now the three brothers are in charge of the army. ”

“…… Shi A, were you exposed when you were in Hebei? Liu Xie pondered for a moment and asked Shi Adao.

"Not yet exposed."

"Okay, then you pack up and get ready to return to Hebei."

"Lord, I don't know what is the task of letting Shi A go to Hebei at this time?"

"Don't be nervous, I'm not going to let you continue to assassinate anyone, spread rumors, understand? Give free rein to let the hearts of the people of Hebei float, and by the way, collect more information about Hebei for future use. ”

"Shi Ah understands, I don't know when to leave?"

"Go and meet your master first, and then deal with your own personal affairs, is it enough for you to give you five days?"

"That's enough, after five days, Shi A will take people to Hebei."

"Well, remember to go separate ways with Zhu Dao, you go to Hebei, and let him go to the Central Plains."

"Shi Ah understands."

When Shi A retreated, Liu Xie ordered someone to find Fa Zheng and play conspiracy, but Fa Zheng was good at it. After listening to Liu Xie's story, Fa Zheng couldn't help frowning. Originally, Fa Zheng, like Liu Xie, thought that Yuan Shao's death was related to the imperial court, but now that he knows that Shi A denied it, it means that there are others who want Yuan Shao to die like the imperial court, and they also made a move before the imperial court.

"Lord, could it be Cao Cao's hand?" Fa Zheng thought about it and said to Liu Xie.

"Hmm...... There is this possibility, Yuan Shao will not die, and Cao Cao will not be at peace. He did have a reason to send someone to attack Yuan Shao, but Cao Cao's subordinates were so good? Can you do it to Yuan Shao before we do? ”

"Regardless of whether Cao Cao made people succeed, now Yuan Shao is dead, and this kind of situation is also extremely beneficial to Cao Cao." Fa Zheng said softly.

"That's just as well. But if Cao Cao really makes people succeed, then we have to be more vigilant here. Being able to mix into Yuan Shao's side and avoid Shi A's good hands who are waiting for the opportunity to move, the ability of this person to attack Yuan Shao is definitely not small. ”

"What the lord said is that when I turn around, I will order people to strengthen their vigilance."

"It is certain to strengthen vigilance, the most important thing is to find out who succeeded Yuan Shao, know yourself and the enemy, be invincible in a hundred battles, be filial, and leave this matter to you."

"My subordinates obeyed...... Lord, then this time to conquer Cherrigi, can't his subordinates go? ”

"Cherrigi is not a very powerful character, with your father and Shi Yuan here, there is no mistake. If you stay in Chang'an and concentrate on collecting information about the Central Plains, I will give you a helping hand. ”

"Okay, then the subordinates wish the lord all the best."

Fa Zheng was talking to Liu Xie, and Pang Shiyuan, who had just been mentioned by Liu Xie, hurriedly walked in and handed Liu Xie a battle report. Liu Xie took it and looked at it puzzled, his brows immediately furrowed, and Fa Zheng on the side asked curiously when he saw this: "Lord, what happened?" ”

Liu Xie didn't speak, handed the battle report in his hand to Fa Zheng, Fa Zheng took a look, it turned out to be an urgent report from Liangzhou, saying that Xiqiang Cheriji took the lead and defeated Zhang Yan's Montenegrin army stationed in Liangzhou with an iron car formation, fortunately Zhang Liao's Youyi army and Zhang Ren's Tabai army arrived in time to repel Cheriji.

Lu Bu and Li Ru had earlier taken the Flying Bear Army to the Western Regions to take over the begging army, while Zhang Ren, the original commander of the begging army, selected 20,000 people from the original begging army to form the Tabai army. This time, Liu Xie was preparing to deal with Cheriji, in addition to the pro-army of the Son of Heaven around him, Zhang Liao's Youyi Army and Zhang Ren's Tabai Army were also on the list of recruits.

But what Liu Xie didn't expect was that Cheriji's first strike was strong, and what surprised Liu Xie even more was that Zhang Yan's Black Mountain Army would lose. Although Zhang Yan's Montenegrin army is not as good as the regular army of the imperial court, most of the sergeants are Montenegrin thieves who gave Yuan Shao a headache at the beginning, and their personal combat strength is still guaranteed. And if Zhang Yan values and retains in the army, it must be regarded as the elite of the Black Mountain Thieves, how could he be defeated by the iron chariot array set up by Cherrigie? Cherrigi's iron car formation is so powerful? According to the battle report, if Zhang Liao and Zhang Ren had not led their troops to rush to support in time, even Zhang Yan himself would have almost collapsed in this battle.

"Lord, Cherrigi's iron chariot array looks quite powerful." Fa Zheng put down the battle report and said to Liu Xie.

"Huh, awesome? It's just a little bit of a challenge, that's fun. Xiaozhi, the affairs of the Central Plains will be handed over to you. Shiyuan, how is the preparation of the army? It seems that we need to travel to Liangzhou as soon as possible. Liu Xie snorted lightly and asked Pang Tongdao.

"Back to the lord, everything is ready, just wait for the lord's order."

"Alright, then I'll leave tomorrow, and I'm going to see what Cherrigi's Iron Carriage Formation is." Liu Xie nodded and commanded.

The army went westward, much to the surprise of many. Most people who don't know the inside story think that Liu Association took the opportunity to defeat Yuan Shao in Hebei to advance into the Central Plains, or send troops to annex the state, especially after the news of Yuan Shao's death came, it made many people sure that the imperial court would take the opportunity to attack Hebei. But they didn't expect that the Liu Association would give up the opportunity to recover Hebei, and instead focus the spearhead on Xiqiang's Cheriji.

No matter what the era, there are always some self-righteous idlers. Who is Cherrigi? In the eyes of those people, he was just a Qiang man who divided one side, and the court really shouldn't use its limited forces against him. As the saying goes, the opportunity cannot be lost, and it will not come again, and sending troops to recover Hebei at this time is the best choice.

However, Liu Xie is not a soft-eared master, so he will not change his original intention because of the words of these idlers, anyway, the old ministers in the court such as Lu Zhi, Cai Yong and others have been persuaded by themselves, and the opinions of those idle people, Liu Xie just didn't see it.

Liu Xie took Ma Chao as the vanguard, Zhao Yun and Pang De were the left and right wings respectively, Dian Wei guarded the Chinese army, and a group of 20,000 Ma Haohao went to Liangzhou. At the same time as Liu Xie set off, Zhang Yan, the chief general of the Montenegrin Army in Liangzhou, also flew a pigeon to pass the book, and rushed to join Liu Xie as soon as possible.

Although he said that he didn't care about Cherrigie's iron car formation, in fact, Liu Xie attached great importance to it. Although Zhang Yan's Montenegrin army is not as elite as You Yi and Jie Yi, the equipment and equipment used by the Montenegrin army are the same as those of the regular army. Zhang Yan is a person who has seen the power of the iron car array, and Liu Xie wants to know the situation of the iron car array, so it is naturally the most suitable to ask Zhang Yan.

The army marched all the way, and when they arrived in Tianshui County, Zhang Yan, who had been recruited by Liu Xie, also hurried over. Seeing Zhang Yan's situation at this time, Liu Xie couldn't help frowning, stepped forward to help Zhang Yan, who saluted him, and said, "Hang the lottery?" ”

"Holy rest assured, a little injury will not get in the way."

"It's okay to stay out of the way, sit down and talk." Liu Xie asked Zhang Yan to sit down, and then continued: "General Zhang, I came to you not for anything else, but for the iron car array. ”

"A certain general is incompetent, and the military prestige ......" Zhang Yan quickly got up and pleaded guilty when he heard this.

Liu Xie didn't wait for Zhang Yan to finish his words before he interrupted: "Stop, General Zhang, I didn't invite you to ask you about your crimes, this victory or defeat is a common thing in soldiers, and I will not punish you for a defeat." The purpose of recruiting you is only because you have fought with the Iron Wheel Formation, and I want to know what that Iron Wheel Formation is? ”

"Thank you, Holy One, for your kindness." Zhang Yan heard Liu Xie's words, the big stone hanging in his heart finally settled, before learning that the saint was recruiting, Zhang Yan thought that this was the imperial court's plan to use this as an excuse to clean himself up, and wanted to escape, but most of the people of the Black Mountain Army had settled in Liangzhou at this time, if he escaped, Zhang Yan was worried that these people would be affected, so he had to come to see Liu Xie, it can be said that Zhang Yan was ready to be eliminated by Liu Xie. But he didn't want Liu Xie to take the opportunity to get rid of himself at all, but just asked about the situation of the iron car formation.

Zhang Yan, who was moved in his heart, carefully recalled the scene at that time, and then said to Liu Xie: "Shengshang, if you want to say that this iron car array, as the name suggests, is not only a car made of iron, but also full of iron, with sharp weapons such as knives and spears inserted on it, pushed by the two of them in the back, once it runs like a thousand troops, it is extremely difficult for ordinary soldiers and horses to resist. At first, Cherrigi did not let the iron car formation fight, and the last general's Montenegrin army could still stabilize the formation, but as soon as the iron car formation appeared, the means used by the Montenegrin army to resist the cavalry before were all ineffective. If it weren't for Zhang Wenyuan and Zhang Gongyi's troops arriving in time to entangle Cheriji's iron chariot formation, the last general's Montenegrin army might have faced a rout. ”

"Hmm...... In this way, it is difficult to resist the iron car formation in the front. ”

"Yes, it is difficult to resist from the front, but if you play alone, it is not impossible to deal with the iron car formation. After the war, the general and Zhang Wenyuan and Zhang Gongyi discussed the way to deal with the iron car formation, and found that this iron car formation could only go straight when running, but could not turn in time, as long as it could attack from the side, it was not difficult to break the iron car formation. ”

"Oh? So you've found a way to deal with the Iron Cart? Liu Xie asked with some surprise.

Zhang Yan smiled bitterly when he heard this: "Shengshang, it's not so easy, we know the weakness of the Iron Car Formation, and Cherrigi also knows that in order to prevent the flanks of the Iron Car Formation from being attacked, Cherrigi only uses the Iron Car Formation as a tool to break the formation, and the flanks of the Iron Car Formation are even more tightly defended, so as not to let others find a chance to attack." ”

"Well......" After hearing this, Liu Xie motioned for Zhang Yan to rest beside him and looked at Pang Tong. In this expedition to Cherrigi, in addition to Pang Tong, it was Fa Yan, who returned with Zhang Ren, who acted as the mastermind by Liu Xie's side. As for Sima Yi, Xu Shu, and Shi Tao, who joined Liu Xie with Pang Tongyi, Sima Yi went to understand the annoying army Xu Huang, Xu Shu went to Huang Zhong of the Han Anjun, and Shi Tao became Xun Yu's right-hand man at this time.

Seeing Liu Xiewang coming over, Pang Tong scratched his head, "Don't urge, don't urge, Rong Tong think about it." ”

Liu Xie also knew that this matter could not be thought of by just urging, nor did he urge Pang Tong, and he was also trying to think about how to deal with Cherrigie's iron car formation.

If you deal with the Iron Carriage Formation alone, it will not be a difficult task, just attract it to a place with narrow terrain, and order someone to dig a pit in the ground in advance so that the Iron Carriage Formation cannot run. But now that Cherrigi has clearly noticed the shortcomings of the Iron Car Formation and protected it, it will be a bit troublesome to deal with the Iron Car Formation.

"General Zhang, the previous battle report said that at this time, Cherrigi had already led his troops to withdraw from Liangzhou, was it his initiative to retreat or your credit?" Pang Tong suddenly asked Zhang Yandao.

Zhang Yan just saw that Liu Xie's attitude towards Pang Tong was very important, and he knew that the ugly man in front of him could not be lazy, so he hurriedly replied: "This is also thanks to the two generals, Zhang Wenyuan and Zhang Gongyi, who took turns to attack and harass Cherrigi's camp, which made Cherrigi unbearable and had to retreat. ”

"It's unbearable......" Pang Tong thought when he heard this.

……

"What do you say? When today's prince drove his own expedition and went to conquer Xiqiang Cheriji? In the Tiger Prison Pass, Cao Cao, who heard the news, almost suspected that he had heard it wrong.

"Returning to the lord, this is indeed the case, and some people even saw the Son of Heaven leave Chang'an with their own eyes."

“…… What the hell is this Cherrigi doing? Unexpectedly, the Son of Heaven let go of Hebei and went to find his bad luck? Cao Cao muttered to himself very puzzled.

"Ming Gong, the Son of Heaven's move, I'm afraid it's not that Cheriji provoked the Son of Heaven, but that the Son of Heaven is preparing for the future conquest of the world." Guo Jia frowned and said.

"Fengxiao, why do you say this?" Cao Cao asked.

"Ming Gong, looking at the scope controlled by today's son, in addition to the existence of our princes in the east, there are only the Xiongnu and Xiqiang who are bordering the imperial court, and the Western Regions were requisitioned by the imperial court once, and now most of the Western Regions have fallen into the control of the imperial court. With today's temperament, the Zhongxing Han family is sure, then it will definitely deal with the princes of these separatist parties, and in order to avoid a fire in the backyard in the future, he must take the lead. The Western Regions is no longer a threat to the imperial court, and Xiqiang is estimated to be in a catastrophe this time, and there is only one Xiongnu left, and I am afraid that he will not be the opponent of the imperial court in the future. Ming Gong, our side needs to hurry, we must seize Hebei before the imperial court stabilizes the rear, once the imperial court takes the lead in the future, we will fall into the danger of being attacked by the enemy. ”

"Then according to Fengxiao's meaning, we can't wait any longer?"

"We can't wait any longer, before Jia thought that the imperial court would take advantage of the civil strife in Hebei to come and get a piece of the pie, in that case, we can only start from Yuan Tan in Qingzhou, but now, the imperial court is obviously preparing to stabilize its own backyard first, and then turn around us, if we don't take advantage of this time to strengthen our own strength, I am afraid that there will be no chance in the future." In addition, the Ming Duke also had to find a way to ease relations with Jiangdong and Jingzhou, and in the future, they would not need to be used in order to fight against the imperial court. ”

"Fengxiao, then Liu Biao and Sun Ce have cheated us once before, are they still trustworthy?" Cao Cao asked a little unpleasantly. If these two guys hadn't changed their minds halfway, they wouldn't have ended up defeated.

Seeing this, Guo Jia persuaded: "Duke Ming, if you can't bear it, you will make a big plan, if the Son of Heaven wants to revive the Han family, it is bound to sweep away our princes who are divided by one side." At this time, he has a good relationship with Liu Biao and Sun Ce, and even if he can't unite at that time, he doesn't have to worry about them stabbing him in the back. After all, if we are not having a good time, they should not want to have a good life. ”

Cao Cao has always trusted Guo Jia, and he is not stupid, so he naturally knows the truth that cooperation is beneficial to both sides, and division is harmful to both people, but he is a little uncomfortable in his heart.

"Fengxiao, then when do you think we should attack Hebei? Do you need to join forces with Yuan Tan as previously discussed? Cao Cao asked as he changed the subject.

"Of course you need, although the princes of the Yuan family are making a lot of trouble for the position of the lord of Hebei at this time, if our army enters Hebei, I don't guarantee that they will temporarily put aside each other's prejudices for the sake of Hebei's foundation and unite with the outside world, so that our army will be equivalent to helping Yuan Shang."

"Hmm, Feng Xiao's words are reasonable, so I don't know what Yuan Tan is talking about?" Cao Cao nodded and asked again.

"Everything goes well, if nothing happens, there will be a result by the end of this month at the latest."

"Hmph, I just don't know if Yuan Tan would secretly regret it if he knew afterwards that he had led the wolf into the room?"

"Ming Gong rest assured, as long as Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi are eliminated, Yuan Tan will be unable to support himself at that time, and it will be too late for him to regret it. By the way, Ming Gong, Yuan Tan has Chen Gong Chen under his command, and Jia is worried that he will secretly make an obstruction, so he wants to send someone to get rid of him. ”

"Ah, no problem, anyway, I don't worry about you doing things, Yuan Shao has asked you to solve it, just a Chen Palace, presumably it is not a problem." Cao Cao didn't care about Chen Gong's life or death, strictly speaking, Chen Gong was a traitor, and when Lu Bu was introduced into Yanzhou, Chen Gong secretly connected with him, and Cao Cao wished that Chen Gong, the anti-bone boy, would be born as soon as possible.

“…… Ming Gong, Yuan Shao's death has nothing to do with Jia. Guo Jia was stunned when he heard Cao Cao's words, and said in a low voice.

"Huh? Nothing to do with you? …… So who killed Yuan Shao? Cao Cao was also stunned when he heard this, he thought that Guo Jia had done it to get rid of Yuan Shao for himself, but he didn't expect that Yuan Shao's death had nothing to do with Guo Jia.